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Ridley (Metroid)
Ridley, also known as Geoform 187, is the central antagonist of the Metroid series. He is a large, dragon-like alien and one of the leaders of the Space Pirates, as well as Samus Aran's arch-nemesis, having murdered her parents when she was just a toddler. Samus' deep hatred of Ridley is as strong as he is for her. Ridley is a miniboss in the original Metroid game, a major antagonist in the Metroid Prime series and the secondary antagonist of Super Metroid and Metroid: Other M (the latter a clone), as well as a major antagonist in Metroid Fusion in the form of the X-Parasite-enhanced Neo-Ridley. Appearance Ridley is a large alien creature with some draconian traits (physiology) and is considered to be the leader of the Space Pirates stationed on Zebes, as well as being the supreme commander of the Space Pirate confederation. Highly intelligent, Ridley seems to have a great amount of hatred for the bounty hunter Samus Aran, due to his numerous confrontations and battles with her. Throughout the main games, he is able to be brought back to life after his presumed death, either through technological enhancements, genetic mutations, and even cloning. It is his strong defiance and persistence that allows Ridley to fight again despite being defeated countless times by Samus. Personality Considering his lack of voice in the games and little-known backstory about him, and always being a boss in the games, Ridley is mistaken as a brain-dead and feral animal that cannot control his actions and has to eat. However, this is proven wrong at least in the official Metroid manga. Here, Ridley is shown to be an intelligent yet bloodthirsty creature that kills a young girl's mother, which just so happens to be Samus, who tries to befriend him; Ridley simply laughs at the request and attacks her, another goal of his is to destroy the peaceful planet K2-L. Considering he is the warlord that he is, he follows his leader very unwillingly. This most likely is because his love for war is only because of the feeling for murder and death of people. Even though this, he is shown to be very intelligent as well, as seen in The Battle of Norion, he makes sure that even if he dies, Samus will also die. His main trait of personality other than being a warlord though is his sarcastic and overly sadistic humor, he makes jokes about Samus's mother being dead at times very casually, and toys with Samus at times before trying to kill her, he even sarcastically calls his leader once Sir Military Commander, in which he obviously just flies away in arrogance after. Even though he never speaks human speech in the games, people have assumed that the reason that he is seen speaking English in the manga is that it is a translation from his "Space Pirate Language". Powers and Abilities Ridley's fighting skills are very advanced, as seen multiple times in the series, an example of this is in the Battle of Norion, he took advantage of Samus being unable to transform during the battle while she was in the Morph Ball form, he then checked and made sure that Samus would fall down the Generator C shaft, this would make it so that whether he dies or not, Samus would die too, with him. One of the reasons he is good at fighting is because of all his weapons and his ability to fly, a lot of creatures in Metroid can't fly which gives Ridley the upper hand in almost every battle. Some of his weapons and attacks are beams, lasers, and fireballs. He also has the strength that he uses at times to break battleships in order to make his enemies fall down. Quotes Guide and Manual Descriptions Trophy Descriptions Forms Ridley Robot The Ridley Robot is an incomplete robot based on Ridley, made by Ridley, as it is clearly incomplete, its cables are coming out of its torso, and therefore doesn't have the same moving capability as Ridley, and is only able to move with its arms. Though it is apparently connected to an unseen interface, giving it some sort of power. It has a grey, metallic appearance with very sharp, light green eyes and a red core on its chest. In its boss battle, it is the final boss of Metroid: Zero Mission, but is its only appearance too (Other than Nintendo Land), it can fire missiles, lasers, and fireballs, but ironically, its main weakness is also missiles, and if Samus manages to shoot it in its core, it will take damage, it also uses its claws to do damage. Meta Ridley After Ridley was defeated and presumably deceased, he still wouldn't give up, he picked up his remains and made himself again, and this time, a genetically enhanced version, he had to go through a very painful metamorphosis so that he could become Meta Ridley and fulfill his goal to kill Samus once and for all, it is likely that the people who repaired him could have used parts of the Ridley Robot. Once he was recreated as Meta Ridley, his attacks were also upgraded, his speed was highly boosted with new wings, his new armor is extremely durable. One of his weapons are missiles, he can shoot multiple missiles at once, but can also shoot one at a time. A tactic he uses at times is hiding behind something and later popping up and shooting missiles, but at times also goes all in. He can also use powerful beams and lasers, at times when he flies and fires missiles, he might fire lasers and/or beams too. Apparently, the designer of Meta Ridley, Mike Sneath, mentioned that it took 20–25 days to complete his character design him, the wings took some time to make, trying to make them look more modern and holographic. His first concept was rejected, but then later the second one was the one used. Mike didn't get involved in the boss battle design, however, which was up to the designers and scenario planners. Omega Ridley Following his loss against Samus during his attempt at invading Norion, Meta Ridley managed to escape, but got exposed to Phazon, After getting exposed to the Phazon, his armor got upgraded and made it much more durable; however, despite being upgraded in such a huge way, he did get an injury from when he fell from Norion that didn't fully heal, which is his only weak spot during this form. During battles, he will try to protect this injury as good as he can, requiring Samus to shoot and paralyze him in order to leave the injury open for other attacks that can defeat him. Samus confronts him on the Pirate Homeworld guarding the planet's Leviathan. After a long battle, Samus finally manages to defeat Omega Ridley, which makes Ridley explode before disappearing. While this form is dominant in terms of battle and fighting, compared to Meta Ridley, the Omega Form doesn't seem to have much mechanical modification at all, the reasoning for this is most likely that the exposing to Phazon made the mechanical modification slowly fall out of his body, and while Ridley isn't portrayed as tragic, it is possible that Ridley could have been suffering drastically during this process. Proteus Ridley Despite his defeat as Omega Ridley, Ridley would later re-emerge as Proteus Ridley, a more organic body with cybernetic traces. During his battle, his organic parts are his weak areas. He retains his classic attacks, as well as violet fireballs that he fires in spreads. For every phase that passes, Ridley becomes more and more desperate to get rid of Samus, in the final phase, he starts desperately shooting constant fireballs, a reason for him being desperate here is obviously because he wants to kill Samus, but also because the Baby Metroid keeps on sucking a bunch of energy from him. Neo Ridley (Note: As mentioned before, this is the last time we see Ridley chronologically.) When Samus first sees the frozen corpse of Ridley, she merely walked near the frozen corpse and it collapsed, but not long after, Ridley's eyes started to glow again and his clone recalled Samus. Instead of attacking as he usually would, he flew away. As Samus continues exploring the station, she sees Ridley's clone again but this time dry and rotting. As she comes closer to see what it is, the clone's eyes start to glow again. An X-Parasite had entered his body, and Ridley turned to his new and final form, Neo Ridley. This new infected form of Ridley has a different look, it has more talons, it is bigger than usual and while Ridley didn't get any sort of further attributes, he becomes even more vicious and dangerous, and while Ridley is extremely intelligent, during this form, he most likely had lost all control of himself and was controlled by the X-Parasite. During the battle, because of being infected by a parasite and therefore becoming even more barbaric, his attacks will be less thought out and more all in. Ridley will ram into Samus, try grabbing her with his claws and talons, spin and whip using his tail, and as usual shoot fireballs, but this time, it all seems more desperate than usual. Despite being less thought out, Neo Ridley has no real weaknesses, though because of the horrible state he is in, using a charge beam will continually damage him, it might even stun him for a while. His huge size during this battle makes it hard for Samus to dodge him. After he gets defeated, the Core-X will come out, Samus absorbs the Core-X and obtains the classic Screw Attack. Larva Ridley/Little Birdie The Little Birdie is, effectively, the first and juvenile form of Ridley, and even before he was grown up, he would be as intelligent yet animalistic during this age. After being genetically cloned by finding DNA on Samus Aran's armor while the scientists had no idea that the DNA was spawned by Ridley, this creature was underestimated because of its cute appearance, the scientists instantly used it as a pet because of its small size and cute fur and gave it an adorable nickname, but not long after, the small little creature brutally murdered one of the other scientists who happened to confront it while playing dead. The first time Samus encounters it, it is seemingly scared of her as it tries to catch its favorite fruit by jumping, but fails. When it sees Samus it runs away, but when Samus confronts it a bit more, it starts staring at her. In terms of personality, this creature is definitely ruder than Ridley himself, who could even be sophisticated at times, it is also greedy, as seen when it steals a lot of honey and eats it all up. Adolescent Ridley/Mystery Creature The Mystery Creature is the second and adolescent form of Ridley. It is now growing into a more lizard-like creature, along with slowly turning into the full Ridley form, it has a pair of unfinished incomplete wings, different from the first age form of Ridley, which was more of a chicken-like creature, though it still keeps the white feathers, which it loses when it grows into Ridley's fully grown state, it has muscular and strong legs that make it very fast, it has sharp talons, a purple and green color scheme, a long tail, which it uses for combat but also so that it can balance itself. It has a very tough and hard skin, which can trouble Samus when shooting it, deflecting weapons. While it does have a tough and powerful body, like every other Ridley form, it has some very specific weaknesses, its mouth, the tip of the tail, under the body, and the growing incomplete wings. As most predators would, it has extremely sharp and dangerous teeth that it uses to kill, eat, and battle prey, it has bright orange eyes placed on the slim and long skull, to go along with being a predator, its tongue is big and it often has the tongue out. It is also very flexible and has a specially good vision for predatory uses, it can see things from a different vision than other creatures can't, and even when it blinks, it will be able to look, this makes it very good at battling, considering it can outsmart the opponent and see it even when it isn't technically looking. The first time Samus sees the creature, it is attacking the federation army 07th Platoon in the Biosphere Test Area, she runs in an attempt to save them from the vicious predator, but the Mystery Creature instead waits for Samus and when she confronts it, it ambushes and attacks her, it attacks Samus with its tail and manages to pin her down, it summons other enemies, and the soldiers try to help Samus but gets overpowered by all the summoned enemies, the Mystery Creature goes for Samus's head, but this time Samus gets the upper hand and shoots its tail. While Samus is getting the hang of defeating the creature, Anthony Higgs shoots the creature, which stuns it and gives Samus time to run away from it, Anthony tries shooting it once more, which would probably cause the death of the creature, or at the very least mutilated it to the point that it wouldn't be able to do much, but stressed as the creature was, it runs away from them and manages to get away safe, Samus and the others stalk it to make sure that it gets caught once and for all, however, The 07 Platoon finds Lyle Smithsonian's body ripped and killed on the floor, Samus sees a green bloodstain along the way, that she follows, she later finds Lyle's body, and finds out that the creature had killed Lyle, and being an adolescent version of Ridley himself, it had eaten her body to grow larger. Samus gets sent to find and chase the creature once again, but she doesn't find it instantly, but instead only finds a bit of blood, Adam Malkovich orders her to go to Pyrosphere, Sector 3, but it is later redirected to hunt in Cryosphere instead of Pyrosphere, while she was hunting, the creature had made battle cries, which made the other enemies even more aggressive, after a while, Samus goes to Pyrosphere again, she sees the creature deceased and its remains, its back is ripped open, and it is overall just dead, she continues, and expects to see the creature's next age form, she meets Anthony once again, while he is fighting an unseen creature that is flying, after a while, Samus sees and notices that the purple creature, and its little birdie form, were both Ridley's younger forms all along. Appearances ''Metroid'' Videogames *''Metroid'' *''Super Metroid'' *''Metroid Fusion'' *''Metroid Prime'' *''Metroid: Zero Mission'' *''Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Bonus Disc'' *''Metroid Prime Pinball'' *''Metroid Prime 3: Corruption'' *''Metroid Prime Trilogy'' *''Metroid: Other M'' *''Metroid: Samus Returns'' Commercials *''Super Metroid'' Commercial *TV Commercial: 60 Spot Manga, Comics, & Books *''Metroid'' (1986 manga) *''Metroid: Zebes Invasion Order'' *''Metroid'' (2002 manga) *''Samus & Joey'': Volume 1 *''Super Metroid'' (Nintendo Power comic) *''Metroid EX'' *''Famiken Ryu: Metroid and Super Xevious - The Riddle of Gamp'' *''Metroid Prime'' (Comic) *''Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion: Prima's Official Strategy Guide'' *''Metroid Prime Official Strategy Guide'' (Brady) *''Metroid Prime: The Official Nintendo Player's Guide'' *''Super Metroid'' (Manga) *''Super Metroid Nintendo Player's Guide'' ''Super Smash Bros.'' Video Games *''Super Smash Bros.'' (Cameo only) *''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' (Cameo only) *''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' (as a level boss/3D Trophy) *''Super Smash Bros. Wii U'' (as a stage boss/3D Trophy) *''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' (as a playable character) Other Appearances ''Captain N: The Game Master'' *''Money Changes Everything'' *''Breakout'' *''When Friends Fall Out'' ''Wario'' *''Warioware: Smooth Moves'' ''Dead or Alive'' *''Dead or Alive: Dimensions'' Misc *''NES Remix 2'' *''Nintendo Land'' *''New Play Control!'' Audio Samples Trivia *The fact that Ridley is fully organic in Super Metroid was a call for theories from many fans of the games. After the events of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, a common theory claims that after the defeat of Omega Ridley in the core of the Leviathan, massive Phazon exposure from the explosion recreates his organic tissue since it is known that Phazon, despite its destructive potential, also has regenerative properties. To support this theory, in Corruption Omega Ridley has some parts of his body fully regenerated while this isn't shown on Meta Ridley in the same game. **''Metroid: Samus Returns'' eventually provided a missing link between the fully organic Ridley and Proteus Ridley, but it still does not explain how he regained parts of his organic body to become Proteus Ridley, at least not officially. *Ridley's name is likely derived from Ridley Scott, the director of the first film of the Alien film series and its prequel trilogy, from which Metroid games are stated to have taken a lot of inspiration. Ridley has a remarkable similarity to the Xenomorphs. *Ridley is the only other character besides SA-X and Dark Samus to best Samus in a fight. In the Super Metroid intro, Ridley is able to incapacitate Samus long enough to steal the last Metroid and accomplish his mission, though if a player is skilled enough, Ridley can be somewhat defeated. The result is Ridley losing his grip on the Metroid Hatchling's canister and dropping it, but quickly grabs it again and flees. *Ridley is the most common reappearing villain in the Metroid series, as he has appeared in every Metroid game to date except for Metroid II: Return of Samus (although he did appear in its remake), Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and Metroid Prime Hunters. That said, Ridley had never been the main villain of each game as Mother Brain and Metroid Prime/Dark Samus took that role. *Ridley is capable of being bipedal, as shown in Metroid Prime 3, in the second phase of the battle between Samus and Omega Ridley, once she destroys the joints on his Phazite armor and his weak spot is exposed, he stands on two feet and clumsily walks around swiping at Samus as she blasts his chest with Phazon energy from Hypermode. Also, in Metroid Prime, he stumbles on two legs as the Chozo spirits blast at his exposed chest cavity. However, he also stands on his two feet during the battle when Samus fires a round into his mouth exposing his chest. While preparing his charge attack, he stands on his feet as well. **Ridley is also shown to be standing and walking on two feet in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, although his posture is usually crouched over. This is because he is by far the largest playable character in the game, thus he attempts to keep himself as small of a target as possible. *In all of his 2-D appearances, his wings are curiously smaller than his body size, logically making them unlikely to even lift Ridley off the ground, and yet he soars through the air with ease (even his X-Parasite mimic). This is so that during his fights, he doesn't take up too much of the screen, and so that his flapping wings don't damage Samus as they would if properly sized. His 3-D appearances and manga rectify this mystery by giving him wings that exceed his main body. *In the Pirate Command sector of the Pirate Homeworld, images of Ridley can be found on the glowing orange monitors. *A possible explanation for Ridley's color changes throughout the series may be due to an ability to control the pigments in his skin in a way similar to a chameleon or an octopus. When Samus first enters his arena in Super Metroid, Ridley is not visible at first. Ridley's eyes soon open in front of Samus, and he then becomes fully visible before soaring into the air to attack. This may indicate that Ridley can camouflage himself like a chameleon. *Ridley's signature music was originally used as a generic boss fight background music in Super Metroid, sharing it with the Bomb Torizo, Draygon, and the Golden Torizo; but in later games, it has been associated solely with Ridley. Although there have been variations of Ridley's theme in each game (different tempo, extra beats, etc), the music's rhythm and sound are consistent and used for every incarnation except for his very first boss fight in the original Metroid. *Meta Ridley can be seen on Nintendo Monopoly representing Tennessee Avenue for $180, though the property is simply referred to as "Ridley". *In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, partial in-game data exists for a Ridley Assist Trophy, but it is not in-game. It was likely scrapped in development. *Ridley's theme is one of the three most remixed themes in the Metroid series, having a total of ten official remixes. *Because Ridley was captured by the BSL between Other M and Fusion, it is possible that Ridley's DNA is still in their possession. However, due to the destruction of the BSL station, it is likely that Ridley's DNA has been all but annihilated. *In Metroid: Other M, Ridley has an attack in which he scrapes Samus against the wall. The same attack was seen in a cutscene in Super Smash Bros Brawl. *From a piece of concept art, Ridley was planned to be a boss in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, as a Darkling. *It is unknown if his clone in Other M has the memories of the original Ridley. Throughout the clone's life cycle, it seems to specifically target Samus, but it is unknown if it did so because it has the original's memories of her or if he instinctively saw her as the greater threat. The latter theory does not explain why the clone sadistically toyed with her in the Pyrosphere rather than attack Anthony. *Interestingly, Ridley's blood in Corruption is red, but his clone's blood in Other M is green, which is a color that is common in science fiction to put in aliens. Due to him being cloned alongside the Metroids, a possible reason for this could be that Ridley's DNA had gotten mixed with small portions of Metroid DNA. *As the Mystery Creature, his tail is his biggest weak spot, which is interesting, because in every other form his tail is highly invulnerable, the reason for this is most likely because it was still growing during the adolescent form, and later during the full form, it got completed. *Even during his younger forms, Ridley was highly intelligent, an example of showing intelligence during his younger self was when Adam first shot him and stunned him, and the second time he was about to ambush Adam, he instead ran away because he knew that he would get shot again. *It is unknown if Ridley's old age forms have the same rivalry mindset about Samus as his full form has, though it is likely that is the case, considering they were equally as aggressive as he was against Samus. *Fans have longed for an inclusion for Ridley in Super Smash Bros., however, unlike other large Nintendo characters that have been scaled down to be playable (for example, Bowser has had a lot of different sizes in-game, but was scaled down to match most of the cast in Super Smash Bros.,) Sakurai has stated that he prefers to keep Ridley as a threatening large size, and will only put him in Super Smash Bros. as a boss, as he did in Super Smash Bros. For WiiU and Brawl. However, Ridley is playable in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch. **Although Ridley's size is reduced, he is still the biggest fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate when measured by height. **His fighter tagline, "Ridley Hits the Big Time", is likely a reference to the size debacle. *Proteus Ridley's name is derived from Proteus, an early Greek god of the sea and known for adapting himself throughout history. This name is appropriate, as Ridley himself is prone for constantly changing throughout his own lifespan. 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